Men's Hockey | 2/1/2014 9:49:00 PM
Box Score
ROCHESTER, NY – Visiting Holy Cross (7-16-3, 6-10-3 AHA) scored three third period goals to erase a 2-1 third period deficit and hand the RIT men's hockey team (8-14-4, 7-10-2 AHA) a 4-2 defeat in front of 1,427 fans at Ritter Arena on Saturday evening.
Adam Schmidt scored a pair of goals to lead the Crusaders and was named the game's first star. His second goal in the third period gave him 100 career points. Mike Barrett broke a 2-2 tie with 4:41 left in regulation, while Tommy Dwyer scored an empty-net goal with 38 seconds left to seal the win. In goal, Matt Ginn was tremendous for the Crusaders, stopping 27-of-29 shots for the win.
Todd Skirving (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Sioux Falls Stampede) and
Greg Noyes (Lucan, Ontario/Salmon Arm Silverbacks) had a goal and an assist apiece for the Tigers, who lost when leading after 40 minutes for the first time this season (previously 7-0-1) and first time since Feb. 22, 2013 vs. Air Force. RIT scored both goals on the power-play, both in the first period. In net,
Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) lost for the first time at Ritter Arena, stopping 23-of-26 shots.
Down 2-1 heading into the third period, Schmidt scored his second goal of the game at the 2:51 mark on the power-play, tipping in a point shot from Logan Smith from in front after Shayne Stockton won the face-off cleanly in the RIT zone.
The Tigers had a golden chance to go back ahead moments later when they were given a power-play. The Tigers peppered the Holy Cross net for nearly the entire two minutes, firing eight shots, but the Crusaders penalty-killers did a phenomenal job blocking every shot attempted, with Matt Vidal blocking four of them, including the last three while hobbling around with an injury.
Vidal would in turn create the Crusaders winning goal, winning a loose battle behind the RIT net, causing a turnover and getting a pass to Brett McKinnon. McKinnon centered a pass to Barrett, who had his first shot stopped by Rotolo, but was able to shovel in the rebound for his seventh goal of the season.
With 3:40 left,
Caleb Cameron (Sunridge, Ontario/Listowel Cyclones) stole a errant pass right in front of the Crusaders net, but his shot from in close was stopped by Ginn. That would be RIT's best chance to tie, as Ginn and the Crusaders defense would give RIT very little over the last three minutes and Dwyer would finish the scoring with an empty-netter.
RIT out-shot Holy Cross 29-27 and was 2-for-3 with the man-advantage. Holy Cross was 1-for-3 on the power-play.
"I was disappointed in the outcome tonight, but there were a lot of positives to take away (from tonight's game)," said RIT head coach
Wayne Wilson. "We generated a lot of good chances and had several opportunities to take a two-goal lead, but were unable to. Our power-play was great tonight, even when we didn't score on it, had so many good chances. We have four weekends left in the regular season to continue and get better for the postseason."
The Tigers took advantage of both their power-plays in the opening period to take a 2-1 edge after 40 minutes of play.
Cameron had two point-blank chances, one in the first minute and one moments later denied by Ginn.
Just 3:23 into the contest, Skirving was the recipient of a great diagonal cross ice feed from Noyes to have an open net from right in front for his seventh goal of the season.
Nolan Descoteaux (Dallas, TX/South Shore Kings) walked the right point and fired a pass to Noyes at the left point. Noyes took a few strides in, faked a shot and found Skirving all alone in front for the easy tap-in goal.
Just 5:03 later, Schmidt stole an errant pass from a Tiger player inside the RIT zone, walked on the right side and beat Rotolo cleanly to the far side from point-blank range for his fifth goal of the year, tying the game at 1-1.
Noyes would tally his fifth goal of the season with 24 seconds left in the opening period, this time, the recipient of a perfect goal mouth feed from Skirving. With RIT on the power-play,
Mike Colavecchia (Maple, Ontario/Lindsay Muskies) would corral the puck along the right wall and get the puck down low to Skirving to the right of the Holy Cross. Skirving then found Noyes in front behind the Crusaders defense for the easy tap in past Ginn for the 2-1 lead.
Neither team would score in the second period, despite having a handful of good chances apiece.
RIT had two golden chances to go up 3-1 early in the second period, as
Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) came in on a 2-on-1, cut to the middle and tried to beat Ginn through the legs, but the Holy Cross goaltender held his ground. Moments later, a pass through the middle deflected off a Holy Cross skate right to Noyes, who came in on a partial breakaway, but ran out of room and had his shot smothered by Ginn.
The Tigers penalty-killing unit came up with two huge stops midway through the period to preserve its lead. Holy Cross had a great chance late in the period, as Brett McKinnon looked to have an open net from the right side on a 2-on-1 break, but fired the puck wide.
Last night, RIT rallied from three separate one-goal deficits to skate to a 3-3 tie against the Crusaders. Colavecchia scored early in the third period to tie the game for the final time. The two teams combined for 80 shots, as Rotolo made 39 saves and Ginn, 35.
The Tigers are now 22-8-4 all-time against Holy Cross, 18-3-4 at the Division I level. Holy Cross is now 2-0-2 against RIT over the last four meetings. The Tigers were 12-1-0 against Holy Cross at Ritter Arena in the Division I era before this weekend's series.
RIT is now winless in its last four games and fall to 0-2-1 on its current seven-game home stand. The Tigers now lead the Crusaders by just one point for eighth place in the AHA standings. The Tigers continue their home stand next weekend with a pair of games against AHA foe Robert Morris. Both games start at 7:05 p.m. next Friday and Saturday, Feb. 7-8.
